By Brian Johnson - 28th April 2006
NATO foreign ministers, meeting for talks in Bulgaria ahead of a November summit in Latvia have begun tentative discussions on expanding the alliance’s membership.
Future NATO expansion could see the alliance reaching beyond its traditional sphere of influence, bringing Australia and New Zealand, the Caucasus and central and south eastern Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea into the fold.
This does not mean that NATO will become a global alliance, but “an alliance with global partners,” NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters on Thursday.
“Since NATO is having operations over a strategic distance, long distance, it means that there is also the need for a dialogue with other interested nations,” said Scheffer.
The Dutchman stressed that the informal Sofia talks were only a first step in the process of enlargement and that no formal decisions on expanding the alliance would be taken at the November Riga summit.
“Sofia will be the “start of a discussion” on the next round of enlargement while Riga will send a signal to aspiring countries, said Scheffer.
“When they are ready, NATO has to be ready.”
Croatia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are currently part of NATO’s “Membership Action Plan”, a prelude programme to eventual membership.
Georgia and Ukraine have also expressed interest in joining the alliance.
Meanwhile, former Soviet dissident and Nobel laureate, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn accused NATO and the US of attempting to encircle Russia.
“Though it is clear that present-day Russia poses no threat to it, NATO is methodically and persistently building up its military machine – into the east of Europe and surrounding Russia from the south,” said the 87 year old author in an interview with Moscow News on Thursday.
Solzhenitsyn , who spent 10 years in a soviet labour camp also praised President Putin’s efforts to strengthen Russia’s global position and influence, attacked the pro-western views of Ukraine’s government and said there was “ little substantial difference” in the policies of the US and NATO.
“This leaves no doubt that they are preparing to completely encircle Russia and deprive it of its sovereignty,” he said.
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